jim acosta and chris frates join me from washington. good morning to you both. jim, first of all who is going to this capitol hill meeting and what potential fixes are they going to talk about? >> reporter: dennis mcdonough chief of staff will be headed to capitol hill to meet with senator democrats who are nerve bus what is happening right now. you mentioned those people losing their insurance plans despite the president's pledge, if you like your plan, you can keep it. in terms of potential fixes, with he know last week the white house started talking about administrative fixes but all along officials have been telling us they've been open to legislative fixes and one potential proposal that is gaining momentum at this point is a bill being advanced by louisiana senator mary landrieu, up for re-election next year we should mention, that proposal would allow those consumers to continue buying those plans that they have right now, as long as they keep up with their payments, they can keep those plans. it is unclear as to how long all of that would go on but the

jim acosta, stand by for that. gloria borgeer is watching what's going on, our chief political analyst. gloria, it will be interesting to see how the insurance companies react. >> oh, yeah. >> let me review what we know. this is what we've been hearing. dana has been reporting it. i've got my own reporting. four basic points i'm hearing that the president will make is, one, these insurance companies may now be able to do what they couldn't do before, renew what are called these noncompliant plans for the year 2014, for a year, for those people who have those policies and like those policies and would like to see them renewed, even though they've already received letter that is they were canceled. the insurance companies, though, in order to do this, they have to notify all of these policy holders who might be able to get their old plans back, that there is alternative coverage opportunities available through the exchange. the benefits may be better for them. >> right. >> they will be losing some benefits. that's wh

jim acosta is joining us now. you are getting more details on what we might hear from the president? >> it's what candy and jim were reporting earlier is what i heard from the senior administration official that this does halt the progress of iran's nuclear program including that key nuclear program. and this administration official also emphasizing it will provide for intrusive inspections. and as jim was talking about they say this deal does not recognize a right to enrich. as we are about to hear the president speak we will hear a heat watching dose of caution from this president letting the congress and the american people know this is a test from iran. we heard this from jay carney for the last couple weeks. he has been repeating this in the briefing room that basically the core sanction architecture will remain in place and some sanctions on the edges of what is applied on iran and what has really been bringing to bear a lot of economic pain on that country and bringing them to this point that most of the sa

jim acosta is joining us live from the white house. conflict inevitable. fair statement, jim? >> absolutely. i think that's right, chris. republicans in the house are expected to pass their own fix to obama care later today. late last night the white house issued a presidential veto threat to the bill calling it an act of sabotage. that's a sign of a president desperately trying to get back on offense. president obama's new messa

let's go to jim acosta. jim, what happened? >> well, wolf, what we can tell you is in an interview with nbc news, president obama did issue an apology saying he is sorry that people who are told, if you like your plan, you can keep it are losing their insurance. this is from an interview that the president did earlier today with nbc news' chuck todd. the quote says -- i am sorry they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me. that's basically a mea culpa, maybe not for what he said or how he said it, we haven't see the entire interview, but it is an apology. one other thing, as the president and the without is sounding contrite, they are still being very combative with congress when it comes to oversight. house oversight and government reform committee chairman darrell issa has issued some requests for appearances from top administration officials at a hearing next week. one of those requests went out to the chief technology officer of the white house, but cnn did obtain a her from the white

i'm jim acosta in for jake tapper. our national lead. the holiday is over, especially at the white house where a self-imposed deadline is looming large over the oval office. the promise, to have the healthcare.gov website 80% functional by the end of tomorrow night and after two months of digital debacles, that is no short order. my next guest is a tech expert who initially called the rollout of the affordable care act website, and i quote, one of the most spectacular public failures of any website ever. ouch. so what does the administration's chances look like of hitting this new target date of tomorrow? chief technology officer at rackspace hosting joins me from san antonio. john, you attended this meeting on monday in the white house situation room to talk about what to do with this launch, and the aftermath and fixing it and getting it going again. do you think that this website is fixable? you sound pretty confident after meeting with people in the administration and actually visiting the sort of web repair shop out in maryland wher

jim acosta has more. jim, how big a deal is this? this is for small employers, less than 50 employees, right? >> that's right, and the administration revealed this mishap just as the president was about to pardon the thanksgiving day turkey, so republicans pounced on that, accused the white house of trying to dump bad news right before the holiday. just to walk you through some of this, officials over at health and human services earlier today, what they basically said was these small companies are not going to be able to use the online enrollment feature for healthcare.gov for a year. that's because they're still building that portion of the site. what that means is the companies are going to have to buy the coverage for their employees offline through the insurers directly or through agents. they hoped to get this portion of healthcare.gov working this month. that is now not going to happen. officials caution that businesses with fewer than 50 employees aren't required to punchs this. it just makes it available. john boehner seized

or you end up making more errors. >> reporter: jim acosta, cnn, washington. >> our thanks to jim. >>> now to the situation in the philippines, nearly a week after super typhoon haiyan hit, food, water and medical supplies continue to trickle into the country, as residents desperately search for their loved ones that were lost in the storm. there are reports now of looting. reportings of dentals, as victims try to find what they need to survivor. the death toll now stands at more than 1,800. two of them are americans. the president of the philippines tells cnn, the earlier estimates of 10,000 dead are likely too high. that's what he was saying yesterday. let's go to cnn's andrew stevens in tacloban. andrew, let's talk about the situation here today. we've been seeing the reports that anderson cooper has been sharing with us. and there are people living in makeshift areas surrounded by their dead loved ones. so we're trying to understand, what is the most immediate needs for people there. >> reporter: zoraida, there are so many immediate needs. this is the problem. the authorities here,

i want to bring in senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, the speaker of the house is calling this, quote, another broken promise. >> that's right. >> explain the latest delay. >> the sdran revealed the latest obama care mishap just as the president was about to pardon the thanksgiving turkey at the white house. republicans pounced and accused the white house of dumping bad news before the holiday, but basically, john, here's what's going on here. small insurance -- excuse me, small businesses were told today by officials at health and human services that they're delaying the online health enrollment feature at healthcare.gov for one year. that means those companies would have to buy insurance coverage for their employees offline, through insurers directly or through an insurance agent. officials had hoped, john, to get this portion of healthcare.gov working this month. that's now not going to happen. officials caution that small businesses with fewer than 50 employee said are not required to purchase insurance under the law. the law ju

cnn senior white house correspondent jim acosta has the latest here. jim? >> reporter: republican staffers with the house ways and means committee tell cnn they do not expect the white house to comply with a subpoena to hand over obama care enrollment numbers by the end of today as requested. administration officials have said for days now those numbers will be released next week. meanwhile, all week long, white house officials have tried to downplay the expectations for those figures, saying they will be very low. the reason of course is the obama care website which is still not fixed. the man in charge of that project, jeffrey zients, said on a conference call with reporters today that the site will be ready for the vast majority of users by the end of the month but said quote, it remains a long way from where it needs to be. at an event in new orleans earlier today, the president said he remains frustrated with the site and joked he could fix it or he would fix it if he could. here's what he had to say. >> we've had this problem with the website. i'm not

>> let's go to jim acosta at the white house. jim, the white house had told you this morning to expect these number as soon as today. it was unclear if they would wait until the end of the week. do you have any sense of why they released these numbers today? >> no sense yet, but the pressure has been ramping up, as you know. to gloria's point a few moments ago, what does enrolled mean? i have guidance from a spokesperson for health and human services who says that enrollment does not necessarily mean that these people have made payments. some of these people have selected plans but they have not made payments. i just want to caution our viewers, i talked to a spokesperson for a blue cross blue shield association earlier today who said in their minds enrolled means making payments. so there is a difference of opinion here, i think jake, between what the administration is putting out in terms of what enrolled means and what the industry thinks. the other thing we should point out is as you said, jake, there's been an incredible dem

jim acosta joins with us details. what exactly does this mean? they can't use healthcare.gov, small businesses? >> that's right. yeah. and it's important to note, jim, that small businesses with fewer than 50 employees are not required to provide coverage for employees but they can use obama care essentially to buy that insurance for their employees. but what is happening now, what officials over at hhs just announced in the last few moments is that essentially, those employers are going to have to do this through offline outlets. they can go to insurers directly. they can use insurance brokers that sort of thing but can't use healthcare.gov. this is not the first delay for this category of consumers out there for small businesses. this it is something that was announced also in late september that this feature on healthcare.gov love delayed till mid-november. now it's late november apartment federal government is saying this thing is not ready for another year. small businesses will have to enroll for coverage knk offline. they can't do it onlin

jim acosta, thanks very much. i spoke with the white house representative who had not been informed of these secret talks in oman the past year or so. let's discuss what is going on with mike durant of the brookings institution, and marie slaughter, the former director of policy planning at the state department. ann marie, you think this deal is a good step forward, but what about the concept skepticism in washington and abroad that iran simply cannot be trusted? >> well, wolf, the first thing to say is, it is not a final deal. it is an interim agreement that gives us six months of breathing space, where iran -- its nuclear program is halted and indeed, actually pushed back a little to give us time to see if we can get to a final conclusion. and i think you have to understand it against the back drop of three basic options. i mean, either we do nothing and iran continues to move toward a nuclear weapon, or we get a verifiable agreement that actually stops that progress, or there is a military strike against iran.

. >> all right, let's bring in our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta, joining us from the white house. it is pretty unusual to be heckled by the people that are supposed to be supporting the president. i was used to it from people hand-picked, but not the people standing behind him. >> that is right, the people usually standing behind him are there, while he hammers home the message. that was not the case today, but it turns out actually our crew in san francisco had a chance to catch up with this student. his name is 24 ju hong, a student at san francisco state university. he said he got an invitation to this event, so it is not like he snuck in. >> i need your help. >> you know, i was going to say the president -- you know, he didn't have the hecklers thrown out. actually, he turned around, engaged them with a little conversation. he has done this before. but usually once again, like i said, they're from the audience when he deals with them, not usually people standing behind him. >> and this young man, ju hong, he feels passionate about this event. we learned he was und

>>> senior white house correspondent jim acosta had a serious exchange on obama care with the white house press secretary, jay carney. i want to play it for you right now. >> i wanted to ask you about the president's comments last night in dallas. he said we anticipate, use the word anticipate by november 30th, that the website will be able to work as it was supposed to. just sounds like there's a little bit of wiggle room there using the word anticipate. can you say what the consequences would be for cms, hhs, people inside the white house if that website is not working the way it's supposed to by november 30th? >> i can tell you that the objective here has not changed. our position has not changed. it's still that the website and its problems are being addressed by a team of experts and that that work is continuing around the clock every day and that by the end of the month we expect the site to be functioning at the standards necessary for the vast majority of the american people and that's what we've said from the beginning. i wouldn't read anything into that. except to say that this

jim acosta asked the white house. they are not denying your reporting. this is a president who stood up and said this is a moral imperative for our time. these are, people have made equivalences in this administration to what happened in world war ii in nazi, germany. with moral pleas like that and syria not going along with the plan to dismantle the weapons, how damaging is this for the president? >> well, it is damaging for the entire west which has put intellectual muscle behind getting this done. then there is russia. the agreement was very tough to work out with the russians. does the u.s. go back to moscow and say, hey, the syrians aren't living up to it and will moscow agree to all that? that's why just part of the reason why this is so critical now to figure out what assad is up to. what he has got. what he's declaring, what he is not declaring and what he may try to keep hidden. >> barbara starr, thank you very much. with that, breaking news from washington on a night when all politics and the president, his popularity are very much front and ce

jim acosta, thank you. and outfront tonight, chris kofinis joins us as well. and i want to add something that eric cantor said, "once again, president obama has unilaterally delayed another major portion of obama care. these are hardly the actions of a transparent administration. of course, chris, east referring to the delay of the employer mandate. it was huge news announced around the 4th. at this point, why do it right around a holiday every time. just own up to it. >> well, to be honest, i'm not sure they're trying to hide from the fact that there have been some problems with the rollout. i think it's pretty obvious to everyone that there are. i think the bigger question is, you know, what are we going to do about it? and clearly the problems are significant enough, but they're getting addressed. what i find kind of amusing when i hear some of my, you know, republican friends, and members of congress, talk about obama care, is i can't believe that they're this interested in health care. i mean, for years, i couldn't figure out what their ideas were, what t

jim acosta, thank you. and "outfront" tonight, chris kofinis joins us as well. and i want to add something that eric cantor said, "once again, president obama has unilaterally delayed another major portion of obama care. and once again he has tried to bury bad news around a holiday hoping nobody will notice." these are hardly the actions of a transparent administration. of course, chris, east referring to the delay of the employer mandate. it was huge news announced around the 4th. at this point, why do it right around a holiday every time. just own up to it. >> well, to be honest, i'm not sure they're trying to hide from the fact that there have been some problems with the rollout. i think it's pretty obvious to everyone that there are. i think the bigger question is, you know, what are we going to do about it? and clearly the problems are significant enough, but they're getting addressed. what i find kind of amusing when i hear some of my, you know, republican friends, and members of congress, talk about obama care, is i can't believe that they're this interes

i want to get to jim acosta at the white house right away. jim, he's talking in dallas moments ago. i'm the first to say i haven't been happy. he's trying to defend himself. and trying to talk about the whole pledge he made right you get to keep your plan, like your plan you get to keep it. >> right. >> but he is on the defense. >> reporter: absolutely, erin. i think you heard that earlier this week when he was talking to his post-campaign team of volunteers. and you heard it tonight. he was down in dallas talking to a group of navigators, those are the people who have been hired by the administration, very important people, i might add, to help people enroll for insurance through obama care. why are those people necessary? because the web site is not working, which gets to the president's comments. he once again said that he's not happy with the way that the web site is working right now, that people are working 24/7 overtime as he put it to get it fixed. he sort of compared it to a product in a supermarket that you can't buy because you can't get into the store. but at the same ti

here is jim acosta. >> reporter: it's not july the numbers that are in for the first month of sign-ups and obama care so are the reviews. >> just another day in a series of mess-ups in obama care. >> reporter: and it's not just republicans who are giving the october enrollment period a thumb's down. >> i don't think anyone is satisfied but the promise of the affordable care act is worth fighting for. >> reporter: roughly 100,000 consumers signed up for obama care in october, less than 27,000, did so on the federal marketplace on the troubled healthcare.gov website and far fewer than the ones they estimated would sign up in the first month. this internal memo relieved by house republicans, in just a tiny fracture more than 19 million people to flood into healthy.gov. >> we have every reason to expect that more people will enroll. >> reporter: a battle embattled with kathleen sebelius claims is improving daily. >> i would say, first of all, it is running right now. every day people are getting enrolled. >> reporter: but mark your calendars for november 30th. the white house says it will

jim acosta who covers it. what do you take away when you hear that? they have put this hard and fast deadline and said look, it is glitches. bumps in the road. stop using words like fiasco and debacle. you hear that. what do you think now? >> you heard the president say he's not quite sure he trusts what people are telling him. that he thinks it will be better but he's been burned before and more importantly, the american people have been burned before. even the president now is not positive that this is going to get fixed in time. you can understand his legitimate understandable skepticism. what does that mean? the president is dead right. the enrollment period is in march. let's use the word problems. other people use stronger language, that it can be resolved and we have time to get through it. it is not just what is happening, i think when it is happening that makes it so important. the other problems as well. the president's competence, the administration's competence. the president's credibility is at issue because of what he said, if you like y

jim acosta, senior white house correspondent. thanks, jim. >> you bet. >>> moms across the country took to social media to give the education secretary a little piece of their minds. >> another headache for the administration. now after fierce backlash, arne duncan is saying he's sorry for his comment about white suburban moms but he's not backing down from what he says prompted the comment. we'll hear from both sides. that's new at 10:00. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your nasal congestion, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. they always have. they always will. that's why you take charge of your future. your retirement. ♪ ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. listening, planning, working one on one. to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. ameriprise finan

jim acosta is at the white house today. >> reporter: hi, carol. that's right. obama care numbers are trickling out. no surprise, they are low. more in just a moment. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. customer erin swenson ordebut they didn't fit.line customer's not happy, i'm not happy. sales go down, i'm not happy. merch comes back, i'm not happy. use ups. they make returns easy. unhappy customer becomes happy customer. then, repeat customer. easy returns, i'm happy. repeat customers, i'm happy. sales go up, i'm happy. i ordered another pair. i'm happy. (both) i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. happy happy. i love logistics. jim, i adore the pool at your hotel.ver had to make. anna, your hotels have wondrous waffle

. >> senior white house correspondent jim acosta tackles that side of the story. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning, carol. and later today we should mention that the white house is going to be welcoming some ceos from across the insurance industry to meet with president obama about this administrative fix, and we want to throw to a quote from a white house official, they are basically indicating that, yes, this is probably going to be a tense meeting, they're going to be talking about how this will be rolled out. "tooled's ceos from across the health insurance meindustry wil be meeting with president obama and senior administration officials to discuss ways to work through and help people enroll through the marketplace." that is an indication as you heard from the insurance commissioner from california and other places across the industry that not everybody is going to be able to keep their health care plan because it's up to the insurers, because it's up to the individual states. it's just not going to happen for everybody despite what the president sa

jim acosta, thank you very much. jim just mentioned, a great point, the president will be speaking a couple minutes from now in san francisco, specifically tackling immigration. so as soon as we see the president, we will bring you -- here you go, live pictures. we'll bring you some of the speech live here on cnn. speaking of the president, let's stay on this, on washington, because americans' views toward president obama the person have stayed pretty much the same for years, even as he is battling it out over his policies, how they have come, gone. but that's actually not the case anymore. i want to show this to you. this is the result, actually multiple results of this new cnn/orc poll, after the white house really offering this sobering reminder of how quickly opinions can shift. so you see all these different questions we're asking. asking americans whether president obama is likable. that's the biggest number at 71%. that's pretty good. but is he honest? just 46% said yes. that's down 12 points since may. is he

it was clear to me today from listening to jay carney's exchange with jim acosta that if the president had to do it all over again, maybe he would have been a little bit more precise because these are smart people, brooke. they knew all of the hypotheticals that were possible. they just didn't talk about it. >> so this lawyerliness, go with me. i'm just going to use the word. what we saw with the president last night, how does that hurt his ability to sell this crucial, crucial program? >> well, okay, so here you have a program that first of all -- let's start from square one. people were a little skeptical about it, if not a lot skeptical to begin with. it passed with partisan majority. it was political to begin with. on top of that -- he won re-election, though. then, on top of that, let's overlay the problem with the website, which doesn't give people a lot of faith in the program itself. then overlay that with the problems people are having in realtime who are in these individual plans, as jake pointed out earlier. it's still up 5%, but that still does mean millions of americans wh

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us. jim, tell us what happened. >> reporter: well, white house officials were asked a question earlier today, were they trying to distract the country from obama care. a spokesman traveling with the president told reporters if that were their strategy, it would not work. case in point, this immigration event. but besides that, obama care, they know the target date for fixing healthcare.gov is only five days away. he's heard from democrats who are nervous about that. as for iran, members of his own party also nervous about that deal that was struck over the weekend. but as for the subject of immigration reform, you would think in a friendly audience the president would not hear from critics but that was not the case when he heard from one heckler during his remarks. here's how that exchange went. >> stop deportation. stop deportation! >> what you need to know, when i'm speaking as president of the united states, and i come to this community, is that if in fact i could solve all these probl

thanks very much, jim acosta. our best to senator kirk as well. >>> let's take a closer look at some of the other top stories we're following in "the situation room." a remarkable discovery reported inside this munich apartment building. get this, a collection of some 1500 artworks, including special works by picasso, matisse confiscated by the nazis more than 70 years ago and worth more than $1 billion. the german magazine focus says they were found in the home of an elderly man whose father collected art for the nazis. >>> a remarkable rescue at new york university where a missing student was discovered trapped in an narrow space between two buildings. take a look at where he was wedged for almost two days. rescuers had to break through three layers of cinderblock. he's now in fair condition. not clear how he wound up trapped. >>> and look at what surprised passengers and workers at chicago's o'hare airport found. this foot and a half long alligator was found inside terminal three. officials suspect someone aban

jim acosta joins me now live. and jim, the president started off this day commemorating soldiers and ended up here. give me a bit of the feel for the morning. >> reporter: that's right. and in about half an hour from now we're going to hear from president obama after laying the wreath at the tomb of the unknowns. his rifle was aannounced by a 21 gun cannon salute. we heard taps followed by a 30-second moment of silence. in case you're watching at home, the president is joined by the vice president and defense secretary chuck hagel. earlier this morning, the president hosted a group of veterans here for a breakfast. in that roud was richard overton. at 107 years old, he is the nation's oldest living veteran. having served in world war ii. and many of them are over at the ceremony now. the ceremony actually comes at a critical time for the nation's veteran. many have returned home with devastating wounds. many of the veterans the president pays visits to on a regular basis up at walter reed and other facilities arou

i'm jim acosta. you're in "the situation room." >>> 43 million americans on the move this holiday weekend. for many, the journey will be slow, difficult and even dangerous. air travel is getting more complicated by the hour, as rain and snow fell on the eastern u.s. look at the flight tracker behind me showing planes currently in the air right now. others are trying to join them, but facing lengthy delays and even cancellations. you can see that reflected in the airport misery map. dallas, houston, atlanta and washington are among the hardest hit airports where many of you are watching us tonight. we've got this satellite image to show you as well of the storm causing so much misery. you can see it covers a huge swath of the united states. our cnn correspondents are covering all angles of this unfolding travel nightmare. let's begin with meteorologist chad myers in the cnn severe weather center. chad, what are you seeing? >> you know, jim, i think we looked at the rain and said this is only going to

senior white house correspondent jim acosta joins us now. the news doesn't seem to be getting better for obama care. the initial enrollment numbers are expected to be low but the numbers there in washington d.c. are pretty stunning. >> they are depressingly low, anderson. we have letters prom people that participate in the obama care exchange in the district of columbia and released by senators. i have one in front of me right now. it says that they have up until october 24th of this year only two enroll lees with blue cross blue shield. that the a very dismal performance. i will tell you house republican haves been eager to get their hands on these enrollment numbers and issued a subpoena to have them delivered by this evening. we found out the obama administration is not going to come play. we'll show you a letter from the department of health and human services. because this process takes time to put the information together, they don't have the information for millions of americans being dropped, president obama said they need to find a

thank you so much, jim acosta at the white house. it will be interesting to watch the former president and president obama together today. >> it always is. >> fly on the wall, right? >> the former president it's always i hear what he's saying but wonder why he's saying it. >> what's the motive. >> we'll have a round table on it after it happens, i'm sure. >> exactly. >>> let's bring you up to date on the latest news. a frantic search tens off the water of ft. lauderdale, florida. rescuers looking desperately for two people missing after their air ambulance went down. the medical flight just dropped off a patient in ft. lauderdale and was headed back to mexico when it sent out a mayday call. the bodies of a man and a woman have been recovered. >>> trey radel says he's profoundly sorry following his arrest for cocaine possession. the freshman republican will be in court today for arraignment on the drug charges. it would put him behind bars for up to 180 days. he said he struggles with alcoholism and it led him to make an irresponsible

jim acosta has the details. in another sign that obamacare continues to be in critical condition senate republicans released letters from a top insurance companies indicating only five people signed up in washington d.c. in october. those numbers do not show the whole picture or those interested interested i wanted to go in and fix it myself but i do not write code. the man in charge of fixing the site said it is still in big trouble. it remains a long way from where it needs to bay. as we put new fixes in the volume is increasing, exposing new storage capacity and software application issues. the president did not address is now historic apology to americans. i am sorry. we are going to do everything we can to deal with fox who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this. the white house met with house democrats about potential fixes. no specific proposal at the table immediately. that means no comment on plans offered by bold purple senate democrats like this senator from louisiana. it would a

from the white house now, cnn's senior correspondent there, jim acosta, has another case of the president being haunted by his own words in an effort to sell his signature program. >> brooke, jessica sanford was cited by the president as an obama care success story at a health care event that the president held here at the white house last month. jessica sanford is a 48-year-old single mother from washington state. she bought insurance on that state's health exchange, and she was so excited about the news, she called it a life-changing event. she decided to e-mail president obama and thank him for the affordable care act. that e-mail touched people at the white house so much they decided to include it in the president's comments as an example of how the affordable care act is working. here's a bit of what the president had to say. >> i recently received a letter from a woman named jessica sanford in washington state. here's what she wrote. i am a single mom. no child support, self-employed, and i haven't had insurance for 15 years because it's too expensive. i was crying the other day whe

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is working today on this holiday friday. he's live in washington. let's talk a little bit about hillary clinton right now. and november 2013 because quite frankly what everyone wants to talk about is who is going to do the deed in november 2013. she's mopping the floor with other democrats right now. >> she really is. let's put the numbers up on screen. this is really no big surprise, ashleigh. we know if the democrats were to pick their nominee right now, it shows hillary has a commanding lead, 63%. joy biden is the nearest challenger at 12%. elizabeth warren who a lot of democrats say keep your eye on massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, she could be the spoiler in the next cycle. the howard dean, barack obama, who was the spoiler who ended up being the president, and then two governors, governor cuomo, andrew cuomo, and then martin omaily, the governor of maryland, who a lot of people say keep your eye on martin o'malley. what if hillary clinton does not run? she decides i have given it my shot, i'm not going to do it

let's go right now to the white house and cnn jim acosta who has just amerged from the white house briefing. putting the questions to jay ca carney. what the the press secretary saying about it? >> he said that president obama agrees with president clinton. that people who lost their insurance ought to be able to keep it, if they like it. the question is, well, how is that going to happen? i put that question to jay carney because what bill clinton said is even if you have to change the law, that's not exactly what the white house has been talking about in recent days, but here's how i put it to jay carney. >> former president clinton did say i personally believe even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made. so, the president agrees, even if it takes a change in the law -- >> what i just said, jim, is that the president has instructed his team to look at a range of options. and we haven't announced one way or the other, although, understandably, you and others ask us for details on what is under consideration. we haven't announc

jim acosta from the white house will talk a little bit about this. if bill clinton is weighing in on this, i imagine that says something very much this is political. this is a political hot potato. this means something here he is weighing in and weighing in on this side saying you know what? i think they need to do this. why is this so important? >> that's right. this white house can no longer, suzanne, say it's just the republicans who want to scuttle obama care, who want to repeal it and not replace it with anything else. it's now democrats inside the party close to the president very important high profile democrats saying wait a minute, this is not working the way it's rolling out right now. something has to be done to fix it. perhaps there is no bigger democrat who is saying that at this point than bill clinton who gave an interview to a little known website called ozy.com run by carlos watson, a former democratic strategist. during that interview, clinton says that the president who kept -- who made that pledge, if you like your plan you should

senior white house correspondent jim acosta joins us now. the news doesn't seem to be getting better for obama care. the initial enrollment numbers are expected to be low but the numbers there in washington d.c. are pretty stunning. >> they are depressingly low, anderson. we have letters prom people that participate in the obama care exchange in the district of columbia and released by senators. i have one in front of me right now. it says that they have up until october 24th of this year only blue shield. that the a very dismal performance. i will tell you house republican haves been eager to get their hands on these enrollment numbers and issued a subpoena to have them delivered by this evening. we found out the obama administration is not going to come play. we'll show you a letter from the department of health and human services. because this process takes time to put the information together, they don't have the information for millions of americans being dropped, president obama said they need to find a fix but did secretary kathleen s

. >>> hello, i'm jim acosta in washington. wolf blitzer is off today. we start with the supreme court

he is now answering to critics who are members of his own party and i want to get to jim acosta right away. he is talking in dallas moments ago. i'm the first to say i haven't been happy. he is trying to defend himself. trying to talk about the whole pledge he made, if you like your plan you get to keep it but he is on the defense. >> absolutely. and i think you heard that earlier this week when he was talking to his post campaign team of volunteers. and you heard it tonight. he was down in dallas talking to a group of navigators. those are the people who have been hired by the administration. very important people, i might add to help people enroll through insurance for obama care. why is it necessary? the website is not working. it gets to the president's comments. he once again said he is not happy with the way the website is working. that people are working 24/7 overtime to get it fixed. he talked about it, compared to it a product in a supermarket that you can't buy because you cannot get into the store. but at the same time, something very newsworthy ham. that is the president a

. >>> let's go to our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. this just coming into cnn right now. jim, the administration now talking about that november 30th deadline, if you will, for getting the obama care website operational. they have been saying now for the vast majority of americans for several weeks. how does it look? >> well, wolf, what they're saying right now, and this was just said by the deputy press secretary, josh earnest, in a press gaggle aboard air force one in california. the president is moving from san francisco to los angeles later today, but en route to san francisco, josh earnest telling reporters that that site will be ready. he said it will be ready for the vast majority of users on november 30th. that they feel like at this point, they're going to hit that target date and he said that because for a couple of things. they feel like they have gotten the error rate down, that they have also gotten more capacity. they believe that 50,000 concurrent users can use healthcare.gov as we speak right now, and they feel like tha

. >>> hello, i'm jim acosta in washington. wolf blitzer is off today. we start with the supreme court agreeing to hear another appeal over the affordable care act. this one centers on contraception. the obama administration is appealing the decision in a case brought by the hobby lobby store chain. a federal appeals court said hobby lobby has the right to refuse to provide mandated coverage for birth control without a copay to its employees. hobby lobby's owners say that mandate is at odds with their religious beliefs. the supreme court will review that provision in the affordable care act. that is what is at issue here. cnn legal analyst paul callan in new york talks about this. paul, it does not sound like that the entire law sat risk here. what exactly lay out what the court is going to look at. is it possible this provision of obama care could be thrown out? >> well, it's possible. i mean, the big supplies here is the supreme court, you know, already heard this monster case about the affordable care act, upheld its constitutionality and here we are

jim acosta has reaction from the white house. joe johns is following an important hearing that's just concluded up on capitol hill. the health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius testifying. jim, let me start with you over at the white house. how concerned is the obama administration right now that the affordable care act launch potentially could hurt democrats at polls going forward? >> well i think it's a very interesting question, wolf. you said by all accounts. everybody agrees that this hurt terry mcauliffe in the final stretch. but i would say there's one quarter of washington where they don't agree with that assessment. and that is here at the white house, a top official here at the white house who is basically in charge of the obama care effort or one of the folks in charge of the obama care effort, david simms, he tweeted out sort of a defense of the white house and of obama care. pushing back against the notion that it hurt terry mcauliffe in the final stretch of the campaign. wath to put the tweet onscreen.

senior white house correspondent jim acosta is in the white house briefing room getting ready for the jay carney briefing. dana bash is up on capitol hill. jim, we'll get to you in a moment. i know that briefing is about to begin. let's go to dana though. the former president's remarks pretty significant in this on going battle between a lot of republicans and some democrats on capitol hill and the white house about the president's promise that he made, if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. >> that's right. i can tell you that sources close to bill clinton and those in the administration who i'm communicating with are both trying to downplay the importance of these remarks saying he's not saying anything that different from what president obama himself said, that he wants to fix it. he's directed his team at the white house to look for ways to fix the problems so that people who really do want to keep their current plans can do that. however, wolf, you know this, as well if not better than anybody. bill clinton doesn't tend to say things by accident and he is also somebo

i turn you over to jim acosta in "the situation room." >>> happening now, holiday hell. torrential rains, wet snow, even tornado warnings. one-third of americans facing delays and disappointment heading into some of the busiest travel days of the year. will the way to grandmother's house be spent in bumper to bumper traffic? we are tracking a fast-moving storm. >>> missed signals. the newtown shooter had an arsenal in his bedroom, trash bags taped over his windows and an obsession with school shootings. yet he never got the mental health care he so desperately needed. how did our system fail him and why hasn't anything changed? >>> time-out. 60 minutes temporarily benches lara logan for a flawed report on cbs while msnbc and

. >> now, joining me is cnn senior white house correspondent jim acosta. you hear i'm sorry from time to time. but when the president says it, it's a really big deal. >> he it's a huge deal, brianna. think how many times we've heard presidents say in the last generation or so. it doesn't happen that often. it is notable that the president said that. however, we should point out and i know you know this the president did not admit he was misleading people when he said if you like your plan, can keep it. he didn't apologize for saying anything that turned out to be untrue. ooze saying sorry for millions of people now losing insurance after the president told them if they like their plan they could keep it. one other thing we should point out is administration officials and you've been talking to them, as well, are saying that this white house and that folks over at hhs are working on administrative options for those people who find themselves in that position receiving cancellation letters after they were told if they liked their plan they can keep it. i tal

let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. what's 9 latest, jim? >> reporter: all we can say right now is the president has landed in dallas. he'll be speaking within the hour on obama care, talking about the state's large uninsured population. it's a safe bet that the president will once again address the continuing problems with the roll-out of health care reform, sound contrite about those problems the we should point out something interesting happened at the white house, as the white house was throwing cold water on the that terry mcauliffe nearly lost his race, the president was holding an unannounced meeting with 16 democratic senators, all nearly all of whom who are up for reelection. i talked to a democratic staffer with knowledge of that meeting who said basically they reelection concerns were a bailing part for the gathering to be held. all of this happened as kathleen sebelius was hammered against during a congressional hearing where republicans accused the white house of dishonesty. if you like your plan, you can keep it. some of that f

jim acosta is at the white house. what do you hear? >> i just talked to a top administration official in the last few moments who se said that the obama care enrollment numbers, the numbers that everybody in washington has been waiting for can come out as soon as today, but be prepared for them to come out just about every day for the rest of the week. you mentioned todd park, the chief technical officer over here at the white house. the white house had been resisting allowing him to appear before a congressional committee later this morning. but late last night we understand that the white house did decide to go ahead and not defy that and let him testify. it is interesting, if you go back and look at what the white house has been saying in the last several days from jay carney to jeffrey zients, they're saying that it will only work for the vast majority of the people trying to log on and enroll in that site. first among them, bill clinton, as you know, kate and chris, said yesterday that the president ought to keep his pledge. if th

jim acosta is joining us live from the white house. conflict inevitable. fair statement, jim? >> absolutely. i think that's right, chris. republicans in the house are expected to pass their own fix to obama care later today. late last night the white house issued a presidential veto threat to the bill calling it an act of sabotage. that's a sign of a president desperately trying to get back on offense. president obama's new message is he likes his health care plan for the nation and is going to fight to keep it. >> there's no question the rollout on the affordable care act was much tougher than we expected, but i want everybody here to understand, i am going to see this through. >> reporter: the new obama care fix leaves it up to insurance companies and states to decide whether to let consumers keep plans not in compliance with the law and forces carriers advise americans of the choices available under obama care. but the insurance industry worries the changes undermine the system. one source called the white house fix a total mess. washington state insurance commissioner balk